QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON BRITAIN AND THE EUROYou are being
persuaded to agree to our giving up the pound and putting the Euro in
its place. Some powerful voices- the government, the European Commission
in Brussels, and a few large multinational businesses- are saying you
should. This paper explains why you should not agree- and remember there
has to be a referendum so your view does matter, unlike the views of
the German people for example who like so many others in Europe were
not consulted.

What is the Euro? The
euro is the single currency which has replaced French francs, German
marks, Italian liras - and the currencies of the other nine countries
of the EU that have decided to join this currency project. On January
1 1999 these currencies were fixed in value against one another and
made units of the euro. The notes and coins of the 12 previous currencies
were replaced with euro notes and coins early in 2002.(Question 1) Further explained

Is the Euro merely an economic matter?
Does it affect our sovereignty in general? The
euro is a vital political matter. There are no examples of a large country
having a single currency that was not also a single state. It is generally
agreed by the twelve countries in the Euro that there must be strong
coordination of budgets, under the 'Stability Pact', even if this has
been relaxed somewhat in 2002 conditions of recession. Then there are
proposals actively being made by the Commission and some governments
for common tax rates and common social burdens on employers, so as to
prevent a competitive country like Britain undercutting others. These
proposals are major steps on the road to a super-state, via heavy-handed
intervention in member countries' affairs under the excuse of 'making
the single currency work'. Some politicians supporting the Single Currency
have made no secret of their aim to use it as a political stepping-stone
to Political Union. They have brushed aside economic objections to the
idea as irrelevant to this political aim - indeed they have welcomed
these difficulties as necessitating more integration.(Question 2) Further explained

Will the Euro be an economic success
for the 12 members now in it? It
is an unprecedented experiment in recent times for 12 states to have
a single currency. By having a single currency the 12 members must also
have a single interest rate and of course a fixed unit of exchange against
each other. But having the same interest rate and exchange rate for
all the very disparate parts of the euro area is full of problems. The
Asian Crisis of 1997/8 pushed Germany towards recession; but the European
Central bank was reluctatnt to cut interest rates because some other
countries, such as Spain and Ireland, were still growing strongly. In
2002 again Germany is threatened with a recession and unable to respond
with cuts in interest rates. The German people, who were never consulted
on abandoning the Deutschemark are not amused.(Question 3) Further explained

Is the Euro necessary for the Single Market? Will
having just one currency in Europe will drive down the costs of doing
business in Europe and eliminate exchange rate uncertainty? But the
EEC Commission itself has found that the reduced cost of changing money
would at best only save 0.1% of national income for a big mature country
like the UK. On exchange rate uncertainty, while the Euro obviously
eliminates uncertainty between Euro currencies themselves, it will increase
uncertainty between Euro currencies and otheres, especially the world's
main currency,the dollar. This is particularly the case for the UK because
of our close ties with the USA. (Question 4) Further explained

Should we join because the members of the Euro Club
might damage us if we were outside it - e.g. through
protection or concerted action through taxes or spending? Protection
against us by other EEC members is completely illegal under the EEC
Treaties. Even if it was legal, it would be completely against our partners'
interests because they export much more to us than we import from them.
No doubt euro members will adopt all sorts of coordination of policies
to try and reduce the problems facing monetary policy. But the euro
countries' struggles to set their policies jointly does not threaten
us (provided we are not involved in damaging 'harmonisation'), as the
better they can manage their economies, the better for our exports.
(Question 5) Further explained

Will we lose out in foreign investment if we do not join? No!
The decision to invest is a long term one resting on a judgement about
long-term competitiveness; in the long term an exchange rate that is
flexible has advantages for an investor- it means that if competitiveness
is threatened then the exchange rate can adjust. The key factor is the
commitment of the country and its government to competitiveness as well
as cost factors such as infrastructure, language and property rights.
Investment has continued to pour into the UK in spite of being out of
all European exchange rate arrangements.(Question 6) Further explained

Would our pensions be safe from bankrupt
continental state pension systems? The
OECD has estimated that Italy will probably need to raise taxes or pension
contributions by around 10% of national income, meaning about 15% of
wages, within the next 20 years. Germany and France's systems are barely
in any better shape. All this on top of sizeable debts and deficits
otherwise. The UK, with public finances and state pensions in balance,
could be called on to help out- even though the EEC Treaties theoretically
prevent this, the dangers to other countries from letting a fellow Euro-country
go bankrupt would exert strong political pressure to bail it out. (Question 7) Further explained

What damage could it do us economically to join the Euro? Our
vital ability to set our own interest rates and exchange rate would
be removed; our economy is different from the continent's in many ways-
our close links with the USA and the dollar, our flexible mortgage rates,
our hi-tech and service industries, our high employment and work hours,
all mean that there is no 'convergence'. We had a grim warning of all
this when we joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism with such disastrous
results in 1990-92. Then we have much to fear from harmonisation' in
the name of the euro; it could destroy our more flexible, deregulated
and competitive economy. Finally, we would lose control of our public
spending and taxation - our sovereignty in our economic affairs. (Question 8) Further explained

What is the government's position? The
government has said that it would decide to join the Euro if it is in
Britain's economic interests to do so; if it decides to do so, it will
then submit the matter to a referendum. It has also published a National
Changeover Plan detailing the steps to be taken if the referendum endorses
the decision. It estimates that it will take about 40 months in all
from that decision for the Euro to be fully introduced and sterling
withdrawn. It is not clear what steps are actually being taken within
the public sector before the decision; detailed planning is said to
be going ahead but one assumes that no serious sums will be expended
beforehand. The private sector is obviously reluctant to spend money
in advance of a firm decision.(Question 9) Further explained

Summary

EMU is a political matter; it involves a massive loss of sovereignty
over the powers not just of money but of taxation, public spending and
regulation- matters over which Parliamentary control has been central to
our democracy. Other European countries may want that; but do we?

EMU means that economically, because we lose the power to set our
own interest rates, we can experience far worse recessions and economic
boom-bust cycles.

Staying out does not threaten our prosperity- neither can EMU
members exercise protection against us, nor will investors be any the
less attracted by our competitive economy.

On the contrary, EMU threatens our economy because it implies far
more 'coordination'- which in practice means that European-style
regulation and high taxation would be forced on us, ruining our
competitive, flexible economy.

EMU also threatens us financially, because most continental
countries face state pensions crisis on top of already high tax rates,
high public deficits and in several cases high debt. We may be called
upon within EMU to bail them out.